First a rebuttal from Grok then my peasant opinion.
Musk joined Tesla in 2004 as the lead Series A investor ($6.5 million of the $7.5 million round) and chairman after Eberhard and Tarpenning incorporated it in 2003; a 2009 settlement lets all five early principals, including Musk, call themselves co-founders. The company ran on private capital for its first seven years, produced the Roadster, and designed powertrains for Daimler before any government loan.The 2010 DOE award was a $465 million milestone-based loan under the Bush-era ATVM program, not a grant. Tesla repaid it in full in May 2013—nine years early—plus interest and a prepayment penalty, making taxpayers a profit and becoming the only U.S. automaker to fully repay its ATVM loan.SpaceX’s NASA and Defense contracts (roughly $17 billion obligated, with higher ceilings if options are exercised) are fixed-price awards won in competitive bids for launches, crew transport, and lunar lander work that NASA estimated saved tens of billions versus traditional cost-plus approaches. The Golden Dome satellite role cited is on the order of $2 billion for development, not $185 billion. Payments for delivered services that undercut prior costs are not welfare; the 2026 GAO review of DOGE flagged transparency gaps and some unverifiable line items in the Wall of Receipts without labeling the broader effort fictional.
IMHO:
After retiring from 25 years of commercial driving I wanted to use most of my nest egg on a down payment on a commercial truck. 80k down on 120k Truck. I felt I could not lose. I would only have to haul a few loads to break even. I filled out the loan application. The banker called me and in an angry voice told me in read be tween the lines way that I could not lose and I would not be offered a loan. Good for Musk that that he is connected. At least 1/2 the population is.
Nonvoter Protest
Voter Michael T Klukas; Photographer/Author of: Boys Will Be Boys, Corruption Or Psychopath? Amazon & B&N Book Stores